In radial tires for heavy loads mounted on trucks and buses and the like, a block pattern is adopted in order to increase the braking performance (snow braking performance) on snow-covered road surfaces. On the other hand, in the case of radial tires for heavy loads, there is a demand to reduce the rolling resistance in order to improve the fuel economy. Generally, the snow braking performance is excellent in the case of tread patterns based on ribs, and the fuel economy is excellent in the case of tread patterns based on blocks. Therefore, the two have conflicting properties.
Note that as a conventional pneumatic tire having a block pattern, the technology described in International Patent Publication No. WO/2008/146851 is known.